that would have helped pay for funerals and travel expenses to meet is the return of their loved one's remains. >> for the sacrifice our kids are making at the age they are making them, i don't understand how this can be a benefit that's withheld. i one ever understand it. >> will this mother's cry be the wakeup call washington needs to fix this mess. >> we send our soldiers to war. we tell them we're there to take care of their families if something happens. now because of a small group of tea party republicans, we say we can't even take care of your family when you die in the service of the country. for shame, mr. president, for shame if that happens.

good day, i'm andrea mitchell in new york. we are now in day eight of the government shutdown that we have been told was unthinkable and wouldn't happen. now we learn that the families of our soldiers killed in afghanistan are being denied benefits because of this colossal failure of leadership. how do you tell that to the families whose loved ones gave their lives for all of us. joining me now author and journalist and senior fellow with council on foreign relations. gayle, thank you very much. you have lived in afghanistan, worked with the soldiers. you know this terrain an you know how the military is coping. we talked to a mother, lance corporal jeremiah collins. he was 19 years old. watch her story. >> everything we talk about as moms of marines the one thing you never want is to see a

uniformed officer at the door. when they came it's been a whirlwind. while that benefit may not be urgent for me it's urgent for somebody. there's somebody that needs to fly their family home or have their expenses covered or be able to take off work to handle the affairs of their loved one and know the government shutting down will delay their ability to han their business. some people just won't be able to do it. for the sacrifice our kids are making at the age they are making them, i don't understand how this can be a benefit that's withheld. i will not -- i won't ever understand it. i think we need to remember these young men and women are going to places a majority of us would not sign up to. the one thing they deserve is to be guaranteed the benefits. family shouldn't have to worry about how they are going to have

to bury their child. >> gayle, you have looked into this. you're working on a book, working for the council on foreign relations. tell us how this can happen. >> what happens is washington has the luxury of shutting down and the war does not. a government shutdown and a war do not go together. part of the issue is that so few in this country have been affected by this war that we've almost forgotten it's still going on. now we have a situation in which like the mother you just heard, you have families paying the absolute ultimate price who are finding out the death gratuity, the $100,000 they are supposed to get immediately upon hearing the news is now an i.o.u. by a country whose government is shut down. >> there are other payments we've learned from the pentagon since our first reporting on the "today" show. there's the basic housing allowance of 12 months that is not going to be paid. burial benefits, burial in a private cemetery, which is

$9,000. burial in the national cemetery, $6,000, direct consignment to national other other cemetery of $2500. so there are other benefits, travel and transportation benefits for family members not being paid in addition to the $100,000. i have to tell you, i've covered a lot of stories for a long time and shutdowns before this, 18 shutdowns in all. this has put me over the edge. >> i had the same reaction. i really stumbled over this story when talking to people who are about to deploy and talking to military families. i write this story for defense one because i wrote to the editor saying do you believe this? has nobody else felt outraged about this? there was a pentagon call over the weekend they said, look, we want to pay this gratuity. we feel awful about it but the government shutdown won't allow us. i think that issue, the fact we are telling people who walked out the door thinking their loved ones would be taken care

of, now that actually they will be but only when we're back in business is pretty shocking. i found it shocking as well. i think washington really does not realize that just because it stops working doesn't mean that soldiers do. >> we have a letter that has just been sent by armed forces to secretary hagel saying this is a discretionary decision by the pentagon. the pentagon is not bound legally the way it says it is. they have told us, we went back to them today, the pentagon lawyers say they have no discretion here. congressman hunter, who, of course is a republican was that the intent of congress was not to deny benefits to soldiers. >> i'm sure it wasn't the intent. what you find now is people going out to serve the country finds a government filled with confusion. when you talk to military family groups, they are spending days and hours trying to sort through what does this law mean,

paramilitary act, what did congress contend, what can families call on in an hour which they never expected to be, reeling from a tragedy of epic proportion. nobody expected us to be here. if you asked people a month ago would we be in this situation, most would have said no. the reality is fighting men and women face more uncertainty as their country goes to war than they ever have before. all allowed this because this shutdown is one american people are breaking their promises people have signed up to fight and serve. >> corporal collins, of course, was the son -- 19-year-old son of the mother that we interviewed in milwaukee overnight. but the other four -- there were four marines killed on sunday. i just want to read their names. sergeant patrick hawkins. he was from the seventh ranger regiment of ft. benning,

georgia, also private cody patterson, assigned to company b third battalion, 75th ranger regimen fort benning. lieutenant marino, 25, assigned to madigan medical center lewis-mcchord washington, assigned joint special operations task force, special agent joseph peters assigned to 286 military police department, cid, 5th military battalion, italy. all four service members called by an ied while in combat operations in afghanistan. thank you very much, gayle. thanks for your reporting. thanks for your continued attention to military and afghanistan. >> thank you. this is such an important story. those are all people who have families just raling and our hearts go out to them. >> thank you for all that. what do lawmakers say? how doe just the continuing standoff. one was from wisconsin, joining me is wisconsin republican shawn

duffy, member of house committee on the budget. congressman i'm not ascribing blame any place other than to the entire system here. how do you respond to the mother of corporal collins? >> first off my heart and prayers go out to the families who have lost loved ones in battle. i'm so grateful for the ultimate sacrifice these young individuals made on behalf of our country. as we have talked this morning, we are going to work through this week, a mini cr that would help with this funding. duncan hunter indicated this is in the discretion of the government. if they disagree -- >> the pentagon disagrees with that. >> right. if they disagree, we'll work through a mini cr that will take care of the families of these loved ones. >> but the larger point, congressman duffy, these mini crs, mini continuing resolutions, that's the whole

question of taking little pieces of the government. the issue is not that this is a small matter, it's a very big matter, but so is the matter of the kids in head start. so is the problem of the single moms who aren't getting food stamps and their help. so down the road are survivors benefits. that fund is going to run out in weeks if not months. so you can't take this piecemeal, congressman. isn't the issue that someone has to sit down and figure out what to do about the stalemate that has led to this disgrace. >> you hit it on the head. the president has said i won't sit at the table. >> no. he said to the speaker today on the phone, according to the white house. >> i won't negotiate. >> he said that he will negotiate and negotiate a lot of things that you all want, tax reform, entitlements, he will negotiate once the threat of the government shutdown and debt default is not hanging over their heads.

that's what he says. >> andrea, that's ridiculous. i think he said you've been through 18 shutdowns. i don't know if you've seen a president that has come and said i'm not going to negotiate. this is historic a president says i'm not going to sit at the table. as a guy that's the 10th of 11 kids, families work through problems by talking and communicating, so does the government. you're aware all we've asked for is the president and administration join us in obama care, american people in congress and that individuals and families be treated just like big business. that's what they are holding out for. >> congressman, you're asking him -- that's a nonnegotiable demand. why not sit down and negotiate over entitlement reform, which is something you all have been demanding and he has offered in his initial budget. you're putting on the table a nonnegotiable demand. >> listen, is it nonnegotiable that he's not going to enter obama care. i get my gold plated health care plan but i want members of congress and rest of america to

be in obama care, that's nonnegotiable, come on. that's not reasonable. one issue we have, the media won't ask the question about why are you treating families differ than big business. you need jon stewart on comedy central to ask secretary sebelius, hey, why won't you treat these two equally and she won't answer it. that's how pathetic news reporting has come when they won't ask tough questions to the administration. >> we've asked questions of both sides. that's not fair. >> do you ask that question, andrea. >> we have asked the question. the basic point is that -- >> why do you want your own heck and won't join us in obama care. that question i haven't seen anybody ask on msnbc. please skit. they don't have a good answer for it. with regard to actually -- >> the response kathleen sebelius gave to jon stewart, if we got what we wanted, a single payer plan, this wouldn't be the problem. >> you say i think this is what they would say but you don't know because you haven't asked. that's one of the problems we have here.

i think in regard to negotiating issues, andrea, i think we can sit at the table and say if these are off the table, what is on the table, mr. president, as we move towards the debt limit negotiation. he would say, lets talk. maybe it's going to be entitlement reform, maybe it's tax reform. we'll have all those conversations. when he says you have to give me what i want, i'm not going to talk to you, i think america looks at that and says i understand a divided government, people hard on both sides, i expect them to talk to each other and work through their differences and make it work. that's not happening, andrea. >> with all due respect this is about military death benefits to kids, 19-year-old kids who died in afghanistan and who are not returning home, this is about what their families are entitled to by law and what they are not getting. it's not about what you want in obama care and not about what the president wants on the debt ceiling. >> don't spin that on me. i just told you at the top of the segment we're going to pass a mini cr to address those benefits. we're going to look out for

military especially those families who made the ultimate sacrifice. we're going to do that and we're going to do it this week. you are asking me about the larger issue of why can't people resolve this government shutdown. we have been incredibly reasonable making a small ask. >> you consider it a small ask he gets rid of the central part of his health care plan that was upheld by the vote, a presidential election and the united states supreme court. >> andrea, hold on. that's your spin. >> that's not spin. >> listen, he gave a one-year exemption for businesses in regard to taxes and penalties on obama care. everyone still can go into the exchange if they want but they aren't penalized in big business if they don't go in. we said for individual, families, if they want to go to obama care they can, for one year don't tax or penalize them just like big businesses. that's fair under the law. that's all we're asking for. he won the debate. the exchanges are up and kind of running. there's subsidies out there. this is a small ask equity and

equality under the law for individuals and families just like big business. why won't he join us in obama care. why wasn't michelle obama on october 1st at the computer with her family signing up for obama care or jay carney? they have their own gold plated health care plan -- >> >> so do you. >> i'm in obama care, all members of congress are and my family. the president should join us in obama care and the rest of the family. is that fair? why should members of congress be under obama care and not the president, explain that one? is that fair? can you defend why the president should be in obama care like congress and members of staff. >> i can't defend why congress and the white house cannot figure out a way to reopen the government so that our kids and their families can get the benefits. >> i told you we're going to do that this week. i want viewers to know this has been a reasonable approach by our part everyone equal under the law, president, congress,

obama care. if it's good for america, it's good enough for the people who passed the law and individuals for one week -- one year being treated like big business who came to the hill with the lobbyist and got an exemption to the taxes, requirements of obama care, give that same treatment to the families in america. again, this has nothing to do with the exchanges being open or subsidies in the exchanges. we're not having any impact on those. they get to stand up and run. we're just saying treat individuals and families like big business and have obama go into obama care. that's it. no one asked that question but jon stewart. i think the media should start doing its job. >> thanks for your advice. thank you, congressman. >> thank you. >> the supreme court appears divided whether to lift the cap on campaign contributions. this morning protesters rallied outside the court as justices began to hear arguments in a case that could give wealthy a bigger role in elections following landmark decision two years ago in citizens united. conservative justices voiced

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>> there's nothing on the table, there's nothing off the table. i'm trying to do everything i can to bring people together and have a conversation. >> we're not asking the speaker to do something unreasonable. we want him to pass a bill that has his number in it, not ours, his. >> same song, same verse from

leaders on both sides of the aisle. president obama called the speaker again offering to negotiate but only once the threat of the government shutdown and debt ceiling are lifted. joining me chris cillizza, post of in play and chuck todd, msnbc's white house correspondent political director and host of "the daily rundown." now we've learned the house is drafting legislation in response to our story this morning that would piecemeal have a min issuing continuing resolution, a spending bill that would pay these death benefits. no, not piecemeal. the house will think they moved the blame to the senate and democrats and harry reid for the fact these families are become hurt. chris cillizza. >> yes, i think you're right andrea and what we've seen, day eight of this, into day eight of the shutdown. it's rhetoric in political

positioning more than it is slogs oriented. president obama obviously going to have a news conference shortly after the show at 2:00 today. i'm not sure given what came out of the phone call, very brief call it seems like between president obama and john boehner simply saying president obama reaffirming he's not going to negotiate on the debt ceiling and john boehner saying okay, i don't know that we should expect a big breakthrough here. my guess is if the president tows that line. there's no way out here, we're not going to throw you a political line, we're no closer than 24, 46, 72 hours ago, which is how far is john boehner willing to go, will the president eventually negotiate at some left, sit down at the table or not? we're asking the questions we asked one week ago.

>> chuck todd, i sense there's give here. you give me entitlement, relief on sequester we have a little more spending. lets talk about tax reform, all of this. it's all negotiable once we get past the debt ceiling and from the government on a temporary basis. >> not only that, you've got the new give you heard from the white house and sulgs hints they gave yesterday. i suspect they would expect short-term debt ceiling, not asking for a year, six months, just anything that's clean. boehner could do the six or eight-week thing and then force the larger negotiation and see if that can happen. if you're a cynic you assume it won't, six or eight weeks we're in the place we are today but it does buy time and sort of gives boehner what he wants, forcing the president into conversations, give the president what he wants, clean

passage opening the government and temporary raise of the debt ceiling and we move on from there. maybe it's too logical of a solution. i don't get it. seems like you see it out there. the compromise is there. i think the real issue is what you brought up on sbilgsment reform, those are things john boehner would love to negotiate. i don't think any of those are negotiable things for one part of the tea party base for the house republican conference. anything that keeps it all alive and creates spending in government is going to be unacceptable to that same group of folks. i don't know how boehner negotiates. >> a reasonable demand to get rid of the individual mandate. you tell me how obama care can survive if you take out the individual mandate. >> andrea, the issue here, chuck has identified. yes, the deal you outlined is

possible. but it would require john boehner to make the sell to 40 or so conservatives. >> the votes are there without the 40. why can't he stand up, put it on the floor and let the democrats give him the margin he needs. >> it would be the fourth time he would have done that, fiscal cliff, violence against women, reauthorization hurricane sandy and now this, that he would allow a bill to come with a majority -- the support came from a majority of democrats and a minority of his conference of course he can, andrea. held the vote, one of my colleagues has a whip count, at least 217 votes which is what they need. to do so would be to effectively sign over his speakership. he could notten elected as speaker. those people who voted against him earlier this year, those ranks would grow, view him as

insufficiently conservative, a narrative out there. i think he wants to hang onto his job. politically it's a lot more difficult than practically. you're right. practically it can happen. i just wanted to clear something up, pat leahy, pro tem, saying from the senate floor, mr. president, for shame, he was speaking to the president of the senate. he was speaking to his colleagues. he was not speaking about president obama, clearly in legislative language. anyway, chuck todd, we're going to hear from the president. do you think he's going to have something -- some signal? >> andrea, as you know, every day since the shutdown started you've seen the white house has tried to find a way for the president to speak in front of a tv camera. sometimes it's been informal like the walk for lunch that he

and vice president biden took, sometimes an interview with ap, yesterday fema, today coming to the briefing room and taking a few questions. this is all part of the you have this sort of public gamesmanship, you saw boehner this morning. the same, trading rhetoric. i'm sure folks following this story, they already know exactly the scripted lines both sides are saying at this point where everybody is just going, just go, just do this, for god's sakes. who knows? >> chuck todd, chris cillizza, thank you very much. coming up next, what will it take to get a spending bill passed? in less than an hour the president is set to give a statement from the briefing room. we'll bring that to you live. chuck todd will be there. ♪

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♪ (announcer) answer the call of the grill with new friskies grillers, full of meaty tenders and crunchy bites. as the political standoff continues we have a real example of how people are hurt, families

of fallen soldiers. congress made an exception, decided to fund 300,000 civilians during the shutdown, why not death benefits. obviously a congresswoman from florida, you've got a lot of military in your area. first of all, we're now told republicans are going to put up a mini continuing resolution, mini spending bill which will fund these death benefits. is that something you support? >> obviously with the effect of any of our troops in the line of duty, that's nothing short of hard breaking that the government shutdown caused those denominator benefits not to be paid. the many continuing spending resolutions essentially choosing between our children. it's heartbreaking on the death of some of our truths.

it's heartbreaking republicans have denied children with cancer the ability to participate in drug trials nih. it's heartbreaking my district in south florida you have hunger programs that are running out of food reserves to be able to make sure families can eat. with each of these spending bills, republicans are essentially asking us to choose between our children and really trying to release the pressure to reopen political part of the government that is hurting them. at the end of the day, the votes there are to relief all this pressure and pain. all the speaker has to do is put it on the floor. but he won't. he's beholden as chris cillizza said to 30 or 40 tea party members of congress because he cares most about holding onto his speakership rather than the

flight of troops killed in the line of duty, children with cancer or the hungry in this country. it's unacceptable. >> congresswoman, while democrats and republicans slug it out because of their divisions over this, these benefits are not paid, kids are not going to head start. isn't there some way to break through this deadlock rather than each side seeking the advantage. "washington post" poll said 70% of the people disprove of the way republicans are handling this, 60% blaming democrats, 50% blaming the president. everyone is hurt. isn't it time to walk across the aisle and set down and try to figure this out? >> yes, it is. that's why republicans need to put a bill on the floor that lets us vote on a clean spending resolution and reopen the government. then any of the spending related issues that we should be sitting down to negotiate over and as

president obama has repeatedly said he's happy to have a discussion about, we could proceed with those discussions but not with a gun to our heads, not with republicans holding the economy hostage and trying to use first the affordable care act as ransom. now they are trying -- that argument is not working so well for them, so now they have shifted to these many continuing spending resolutions trying to reduce the amount of political pain it caused themselves. >> excuse me, i didn't mean to interrupt you. >> it's okay. >> congressman duffy talked about the affordable care act so they haven't given up on that. is there a compromise with the medical device tax, it's $30 billion, a lot of democrats don't like it, like to repeal it. is that something on the table? >> first things first. republicans shut the government down because they refused to accept the affordable care act

is law. they refused to accept the results of the last election. we need to reopen the government. we need to make sure we increase the debt ceiling so we can pay our nation's bills and not risk default and jeopardize full faith and credit in the united states. if there are problems with the affordable care act as it's being implemented, we've all said we need to sit down and work out those problems, iron out kinks. we're not going to allow republicans to burn the house down because we didn't like our kitchen redesign. that's essentially what they are trying to do and we're not going to allow them to hold the economy hostage with the affordable care act and health care, quality health care for ransom. it's ununprecedented. we will constantly be under the threat of the objection of the day the republican want to use to hold the economy hostage. it's just got to stop. it's irresponsible, it's

jeopardizing our economy. the votes are there. there's enough republicans and democrats that would vote yes on a clean spending resolution and we could sit down and have a discussion over the appropriate level of spending, over what we should do to iron out the kinks in obama care as we move forward. at the end of the day republicans have to accept two things. we have to pay our bills. we have to keep the government functioning and we have to make sure that everybody can have access to quality, affordable health care. >> congresswoman, thanks very much. you've got to go and vote. >> thanks. >> congressman dent joins me. thanks very much. you are one of those trying to find a way out of the mess. if the votes are there, how do we get it to the floor. >> i do support a clean continuing resolution. i believe we need to get the government funding. i along with ron kind have offered legislation to break the logjam. we said simply fund the government at six months at the republican number $986 million, repeal medical device tax and

pay for it in a way that is broadly agreed to. that's what the democrats wanted. so we've come up with a bipartisan solution to break the logjam. i don't know what's going to happen going forward. we're going to vote on a few bills today. i think the path we have laid out is a good one. there's increasing interest in our proposal from the senate. >> what do you say to the speaker? >> i've encouraged the speaker from the get go not to let the government shut down and shutting the government, there would be no winners in that process. i've encouraged him to allow a vote on the clean continuing resolution. up to this point he has not been willing to allow that vote. i hope at some point he will or the proposal representative kind and i laid out. >> would you vote for a clean continuing resolution, clean spending bill without the repeal of the medical device tax? >> yes. >> would you vote for some sort of extension now. >> yes. i said that repeatedly. i was prepared to do that before october 1st. i'm prepared to do it now. again, representative kind and i offered what we call a bipartisan compromise because we

think there are members in both parties who want to do this. so again, right now i don't know what's going to happen. i suspect at some point as long as this government shutdown continues, we will be in a position where we'll have to do a short-term cr and debt ceiling increase to be able to move forward. >> how will your constituents respond to you? what are some of the things you're hearing from people really hurt by this? >> i represent leb noncounty, pennsylvania, big national guard facility. i have over 730 technicians who are on furlough. it really makes it very difficult for the national guard to be operationally ready when these essential technicians are on furlough. it's hard for the rest not furloughed to function effectively. i'm hearing from a lot of folks. most of my constituents said as much as they dislike health many want to repeal or delay or defund or change, they also say don't shut the government down over it either. that's where i've been as well. my constituents by and large

agree with my position on this issue. >> congressman dent, thank you very much. >> thank you, andrea. coming up republican senator pat toomey from pennsylvania. stay with us. and every angle of your cash flow- last week, this month, and even next year. for seeing your business's cash flow like never before, introducing cash flow insight powered by pnc cfo. a suite of online tools that lets you turn insight into action. acso 45 states and then district of columbia have voluntarily decided to raise the bar with consistent educational standards. now, students in those states will have a better chance to succeed in college and careers and to compete in the global economy. which means a better future for our students and our nation. join exxonmobil in supporting

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>> everyone has one commitment, open the government, raise the debt ceiling, and we'll talk about anything you want to talk about. we're not afraid to go to conference. we're happy to go to conference. that's what we used to do here all the time. >> republicans say if congress does not raise the debt ceiling, the government will still have more than enough money to service the debt, but for how long. pat toomey serves on the debt committee. lets talk about that. first, the congressman says we're not focusing on gold plated obama care, it does, it gets subsidized like everyone else gets subsidized by their

employer. that was the case. this was actually an amendment that came from republican senator chuck grassley, who you know very well. it was a grassley amendment that forced this upon congress. >> yeah, i'm not sure what the question is, andrea, but you're right. >> congressman duffy is complaining about this but it came from the republican side of the senate, this amendment required this of congress itself. >> i didn't hear the conversation with congressman duffy, so i don't have an opinion about what he may have said. chuck grassley's amendment is the law of the land, it means members of congress are forced onto the exchange as well as their staffer and that's going to happen. >> let me ask you about the debt ceiling. you believe there is some sort of wiggle room the treasury can -- we know october 17th isn't a magic day, closer to the 1st before they sell bonds and interest rates come under pressure. the fact is you think there's

flexibility here. i've been reading from liz bartlet, reagan and bush era economist, now at brookings, he and other republicans as well as democratic economists say that's not the case, that treasury under the law has no discretion at all in this. they get automatic e-mails of expense. they can't know what's in individual accounts. what do you do when we reach that point of no return? >> first of all, i think that's a distinctly minority view what you described. marty fellstein put out a statement reiterating messages he conveyed in 2011 that absolutely tax revenue is far more than enough to pay interest on our debt and debt service occurs through a separate payment mechanism than other payments. in any case if the administration were truly

concerned about the chance there was no default and made it clear to the entire world that would be the case, they would have supported my legislation which would have codified obligation on the part of the treasury for payments in the event the debt ceiling isn't raised. as you may know, andrea, total spending over fiscal year 2014, 85% of that spending will be funded from tax revenue. it's the other 15% that needs to be borrowed to complete the entire spending portfolio, if you will. there is absolutely no reason we would default on the 7 or so percent of federal expenditures that constitute interest on the debt and it's irresponsible of the administration to threaten that. it would be disruptive to default on the debt and we should never do it. >> what do you see to the financial times, financial times says default is defeat for republicans, lead editorial. if it comes to it, and it

probably will, mr. boehner should fall on his sword in support of u.s. national interest. there was a time when republicans had a strong grasp of what that meant, one hopes mr. boehner still does. >> one of the things i don't understand, andrea, is why this president for the first time in well over 30 years should be the first president that gets some huge increase in his borrowing authority without doing anything about the structural problem that gives rise for the need for this borrowing, which is the excessive spending and deficits. you know going back certainly as far as ronald reagan's administration, every administration since and probably before, it was over debt ceilings that we struck budget deals that made real progress of we should be doing that now. >> in this case, what about the argument that it is already the republican number that they have accepted that we're living under and the sequester has already cut back and that he is offering in his call to the speaker today to negotiate on entitlements and all the rest of it.

what about getting passed this deadline. >> andrea, what senator reid said on the senate floor at the beginning of the clip, what the chairman said in the previous segment, you republicans give us everything we want and woodall rodgers happy to have conversations. i'm sure they would be happy to have conversations. we know conversations would go nowhere. sequestration you referred to om because because republicans insisted on that in return for what, the debt limit in 2011. it was the only time this president was willing to do anything about getting spending under control. i think it's outrageous for him to say i simply will not negotiate. i will not have a discussion until you brung me everything you want, then we can talk. that's not what the american people expect from a president. that's not what every previous president has done whether george bush or bill clinton george h. bush or ronald reagan, they use these opportunities to reach bipartisan consensus on how we start to solve this

fiscal problem we have, which is real, causing this debt. >> thanks. >> thanks for having me, andrea. >> coming up next, raising the bar for teachers an students. get a report card from education nation coming up. up in alaska, we find the best, sweetest crab for red lobster that we can find. if i wouldn't put it on my table at home, i wouldn't bring it in. [ male announcer ] hurry in to crabfest at red lobster, the only time you can savor three hearty alaskan crab entrées all under $20. like snow crab and crab butter shrimp for just $14.99. or our savory crab and roasted garlic seafood bake. my name's jon forsythe, and i sea food differently. [ male announcer ] now try 7 lunch choices at $7.99.

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to be about the national interest in -- >> well, just to play devil's advocate -- >> i agree with that strongly. i want to be clear about indiana's position, we're looking at common core, evaluating it -- >> how long will that take? >> in the next year. we're going to resolve it in the next year. we've got our department of education looking at it and legislative committee looking at it. we're evaluating it because we want to make sure that they are the highest magnitude, we didn't go backwards at all. we're going to answer that question with regard to common core. but again, this is about i think the prerogative of the states to continue to set the pace and set high standards. >> chief education correspondent r r rahema ellis joins us. what is the controversy with teachers and others such as the governor of indiana? >> it's emotional and financial.

it's emotional in places they have taken tests based on common core standards, the results have been dismal. it's an emotional one when the parents and students get a grade when you're not as smart as you think you are. then the common core tests critical thinking, more than filling in the bubble. those tests cost pennies and still at that cost, $1.7 billion to do that kind of fill in the bubble test. imagine what it's going to be when they have to review a test where kids are writing out answers in essay form. the money is going to go through the roof. they are trying to figure out how do we pay for it and make sure our kids are ready to take those tests. >> thank you so much from the education nation summit. as we've been reporting throughout the hour. families of military servicemen and women are being denied death benefits because of the goflt shutdown. the wife of one of the sergeants has released the following statement, yes, it is upsetting because my husband died for his

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finally today, a personal note, my take. i've been covering washington for a long time as you all know. i thought i had seen it all until last night when i learned that families of our fallen soldiers were not being paid the emergency death benefit of the shutdown? really, the men putting themselves in the line of fire to protect all of us, if the worst should happen to them, their families will not be taken care of by the nation. all of this and the toddlers not going to head start, for all of them, i say shame, shame on all on you in government. get it fixed and do it now.

that's my take. let me know what you think on facebook and twitter at mitchell reports. that does it for this edition. we're expecting president obama's press conference at the white house any moment. my colleague tamron hall is here with "news nation." >> we're going to be getting the show started with that breaking news. president obama about to make a statement and take questions. these are live pictures and this comes on day eight of the government shutdown. just this morning by the way, the president did call house speaker john boehner, the white house says the president once again said he's willing to negotiate with republicans after the threat of a government shutdown and debt default have been taken off the table. joining me live now, senior political editor mark murray and capitol hill correspondent luke russert. i know they are about to start but i want to quickly get things up to date for our audience.

luke, what's happening behind the scenes after this conversation, between the president and speaker boehner? >> reporter: well, it was reported to us that the president reiterated to house speaker john boehner he would not negotiate on a government funding bill that was not clean or raising the debt limit for the extractions. however with the difference is now that john boehner struck a conciliatory tone saying everything is on table and they made a decision to try to appoint something which is being called around capitol hill, super committee party two, negotiators from the house and senate, the house voting on the bill to try to come forward with a debt deal. where we stand right now, there's no clear way out of this for the house gop. hrry reid president obama are holding the line firm saying they will not negotiate until the government is sfunded and debt ceiling is raised.

it is hashed hard to see how there's any movement at this time. perhaps around october 17th they'll try to get to something where all sides look okay and boehner can bring back to the conference. where we stand right now, it's still very much we will not negotiate until the two things are met. >> mark, let's bring in the news of the day which was reported exclusively by andrea mitchell. i woke up with her on the "today" show this morning reporting about families who are not receiving death benefits after loved ones have been killed protecting this country. it is precisely as andrea accurately pointed out, we think that kind of heat cannot be withstood in washington. >> it's one of impacts of the shutdown. in a lot of ways that's been lost and now we're in day eight of the shutdown. a lot of the inside washington conversation has started to turn to the debt limit and debt ceiling. and deservedly so given the stakes involved. these type of stories and things that people rely on for the gove